check from God?

Just when you think you've heard or seen it all, you read this...


Man Tries to Cash $50K Check From God

Apparently this guy thought no one would notice a check that was signed by God.

Trivia Wednesday #6

answer #5 - Bugs Bunny

Question #6 - Who was the first host of TV's Wheel of Fortune?

Book Review - King Me by Steve Farrar

A great book on the important role a dad plays in the life of his son(s). Farrar covers a number of topics which need to be addressed purposefully. Even if your sons are young, you should read this book. There is never a point where it is too early to be teaching your son about how God wants him to live.

Here are a few key thoughts I took from the book:
1. It is very important to take on the role of mentoring your son. If not, Farrer says one of two things with happen; they will grow up feminized or angry. (15)
2.“The kings teach us that a good man cannot simply rely on his example to meet the needs of his son…. A man must be intentional in his fathering” (17)
3.“Only a father can teach his son to be a man.” (55)
4.You must respond rapidly. “By delay of repentance, sin strengthens, and the heart hardens. They longer ice freezes, the harder it is to be broken.” (70)
5.responsibility = privilege. Privilege is not an inborn, inherited right. Privilege is the result of responsible character. (99)
6.Take it to the Top! Elevator chart – showing the correlation between privileges and responsibilities. (109f)
7.“Better faithful than famous.” (134)
8.As a father, you need to have integrity in your own life. “It’s impossible to be close to God and live a life of secret sin.” (174)
9.How you treat your son (or daughter) will reflect how he sees God (207)
10.Confession is important and difficult. “confession is verbal humiliation” (211)
11.“Our job as fathers is to equip them to live as Christian men in a non-Christian world.” (232)
12.“He (your son) needs to be challenged – while he is still under your roof.” (233)
13.Don’t let your son become a “falsely obedient child” while under your roof. Allow him to really make his faith (thus obedience) his own. (235)
14.“And isn’t it interesting that David didn’t begin to make serious mistakes in his life until the death of Jonathan?” Good friends are very important (238)

My advice (rating) – borrow from a friend (3 out of 5)

billboard's Scripture use

Last week as we were driving back from Cincinnati, we saw an eyecatching billboard. It didn't get our attention because of the picture or something out of the ordinary. It captured our attention because of the Scripture used on it. Well, I should say "misused."

On the billboard were two things (the two things I remember). One was the reference: John 19.27. The other was this phrase: "Ask thy mother, she will help you"

In the NIV, John 19.27 reads, "and to the disciple, 'Here is your mother.' From that time on, this disciple took her into his home."

From what I could gather, it was promoting a person's need to use Mary as a source of answers or somehow a source of help. I don't see that in that verse or anywhere else in Scripture. It struck me as an odd use of Scripture for a billboard.

God vs. God's gifts

What is more important to us, God or the gifts God has given us?

Initially the easy response is God. Which I believe is what God desires of us. God should be #1 above everything else. Sure, I put Him above playing golf in high school. I can put Him before watching TV or spending time on the computer. Those are areas where we need to have God as more important. But I don't think it is always that easy.

I was reminded today, at the Senior Bible Study, of Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac. Where did Abraham place God, more or less important than the promise God had given to him? There was nothing Abraham would not have done for Isaac, until it came to a decision b/w Isaac and God. Abraham put God as more important.

What about Job? He didn't curse God after everything (everything) was taken away. He could have turned his back on God and complained. Job's response was to praise God for who He is. Job placed God about God's gifts to him.

The Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4 was faced with this decision, too. Elisha told her of a son she would have and things are looking good. Then the gift is taken from her a short time (he was still a boy) later. Her gift was taken away.

What is more important to me? I want to be able to say God's gifts. I want to say I would place God above His gifts. Some of God's gifts are difficult to do that with: my boys, my wife, any of my senses, my close friends, my ministry.

A year and a half ago I think I faced this question and chose my ministry over God. Not that I was putting God out of my life, but I was putting the "safety" (what I thought was safety) of my ministry above what God was calling me to do.

Is God on the top of your list? Is He in the middle? Are there things that you would give up for Him and are there things you're not sure if you would?

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." (Job 1.21)

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

What a day. Some of the rough points:
-I felt like I was talking to mannequins during Sunday School,
-ran out of time during Kids Worship (not sure yet if we just went long or the service was shorter),
-was reminded again why I don't watch SNL. Amy and I taped it due to Rainn Wilson hosting. There were some funny skits (the digital short, monologue), but a lot of either just not funny or crude stuff. (I should have just watched the parts that were online)
-seemed a little more patience than normal was needed on the parenting side of life
-thought I had lost a check from a parent
-trying to get middle schoolers to grasp the concept of wisdom

Despite the rough parts, yesterday was a good day.
-I got to "hang out" with the family before Sunday School (some weeks I just run around trying to make sure everything is taken care of)
-despite lack of response, I felt like some of the high schoolers were really getting the message in Sunday School
-Had a visitor that I was extremely glad to see in class
-I missed out on being in service, which meant I missed seeing a picture of me all "hillbilly" from a Relay for Life dinner Saturday night
-I'm getting really excited about Believe in two weeks
-got to spend the afternoon (during nap time) just spending time with my wife watching the previously mentioned sub par SNL
-the middle schoolers were very open about areas in their life that need work
-didn't watch a minute of the Oscars :)
-got a chance to do some writing about stuff God's been teaching me

God shows up all the time, we just miss it b/c we aren't always looking.

Dwight Shrute music video

Thanks NBC for the Laugh of the Day.



(yeah, it seems to be a lot of posts today, but I couldn't pass up posting this video today as I'm in a Office mood.)

Lessons from The Office

I'm really liking this whole "no previews" way of watching The Office. I knew a little about the episode from stuff I'd seen online, but I was not prepared for what actually took place. Toby, Toby, Toby - must we still try?

Ok, so some lessons I took from last night's episode:
1. when we have a big announcement to make, we want everything to be perfect.
2. we also get real nervous when we have a big announcement
3. some friends will do anything for you - even smell your breath
4. Never, ever let Dwight "tour your house"
5. sometimes honesty is hard to hear
6. when we don't listen to all of what someone has to say, we might overreact
7. Roy needs to join Andy in "anger management"
8. Magic Camp is not just for kids :)

Trivia Wednesday #5 (Correction)

the answer for last week's question should have been True, not false. I am so sorry for the confusion. You would have thought that on a True/False question, I should not have messed up the answer. :)

getting stuck...twice

This week has been a full week for me. Monday was a regular work day, plus having all the senior girls over to our house for supper. Then Tuesday was 1/2 work day (with Sr. Bible Study) and then travel to Cincinnati. Wed. was spent in Cincy, visiting friends and family. Yesterday was travel home and 1/2 work day. Today is regular work day and then dinner with a couple from church.

Back to getting stuck. Tuesday was the Bible study with the seniors. It was my 3rd one and I have one more time. Well, this time around I parked in a different spot than usual. A funny thing happened when I was getting ready to leave - I was parked in. I had no way out. My car was stuck, so I decided to try to drive over the edge of the grass to get out. BAD mistake. Apparently I didn't know that this section of grass (which I thought had a fair amount of rock mixed in) was pulled up last year to lay some new piping. So, let's just say it was not the sturdiest, esp. since it was full of water from the snow melting. So there I am trying to "sneak" out and getting stuck in the grass. I mean my wheels are spinning and I'm not getting any traction. So I have to face the facts and humbly walk in to the Sr. Center hoping to find someone to help me get out. (Not a place you want to get stuck, outside a senior center)

Thankfully there were two people from a Catholic group that works with seniors and getting them jobs. I asked them to help me, which they did. The other guy and myself were able to push the car out and get it back on the gravel. But as you can imagine, our clothes did not go untouched. Let's just say both our shoes (dress shoes) were covered with mud. My pants were pretty muddy and his suit got some mud on it to. I felt so bad and was ready to leave. This was only my second time ever to get stuck in the grass. The first time was in high school with my brother (that time we had to get towed). All of this getting stuck happened right before we were supposed to pack up the car and head off to Cincy.

Then on Wed. morning, we were leaving my sister's house to visit our friend. Let me just say this about my sister's road... every other road in the city was clear from ice, due to the warmer weather, but not my sister's. There was still a sheet of ice (with patches of dry ground) on the road. So I was backing up and putting the car in drive when the wheels started to spin. Great. Stuck on ice. We were close enough to the grass that I could get some traction from the snow and was able to help push the car out as Amy drove.

I have not gotten stuck in over 10 years and then in the matter of 2 days I get stuck 2 times. What a trip :)

Here's the thing though. In both cases I see a connection with what can happen in our spiritual lives.

The first one happened because I tried to sneak out and drive where I wasn't supposed to drive. How many times do we get stuck in sin because we sneak around and allow ourselves to go places we are not supposed to go? When we think we can just do it this once, we get stuck.

The second one occurred because of a build up of snow and ice, without proper removal. No one had plowed the road and therefore all the ice/snow was just adding up. The snow on top gave some traction, but when it was gone and the ice was uncovered it had no where to go. I know that when we allow sin to build up and do nothing to get rid of it or the temptations which draw us back, we find ourselves getting stuck in sin all over again. We must "plow" sin out of our lives on a regular basis and stop it from building up or we'll get hurt down the road.

Try not to get stuck today. :)

Photo Friday #7

This is me at last week's 5th Quarter. I was getting cool whip squirted off my nose by some jr. higher with a squirt gun. Let's just say we didn't win and I got a lot wetter than I thought I needed to. :)

good cop story

Check out this story.

A good story about a cop doing what is right. Its good to see that something good is getting press. Its not often we hear about the good stuff.

Trivia Wednesday #5

Answer #4 - True (corrected from an early goof)

I'll have to link to the site (if anyone wants me to prove it) later as I am out of town today.

EDIT* link to site (you'll have to type in "honeybee" that is the only way I can figure how to link)

Question #5 - Happy Rabbit was the original name of which cartoon character?

new Simpsons trailer

I just got to watch the new episode last night. The episode was probably, in my opinion, the funniest one in a long time. It seemed to be funny from beginning to end. Plus anytime you get to see the Springfield adults as kids its good. Even Ralph made it in the episode (always a plus for me).

Anyway - the trailer. WOW! I told Amy that every time I see a new trailer it makes the movie that much more appealing. Not that I wouldn't go see it when it comes out anyway :) But it seems that the movie will not just be a bunch of fluff to fill time. I guess we'll find out this summer. But at any rate - I'm excited.

I think I'll go watch the trailer again. :)

EDIT*
I decided to find the trailer and post it here:

5th Quarter Recap

What a night!

It was supposed to start at 9pm, after the basketball game. Well, we had people showing up at 7:50 and still showing up closer to 10. The basketball game went long, so that put a wrench in the night.

a few highlights.
1. we had lots, I mean lots, of giveaways. Gave away 6 really ugly orange baseball hats. The hats that look like they have padding all the way around :)
2. Gave away some of the Book of John Message Bibles. the cool thing was that the first few people who got one were people we would have wanted to give them to. :) Now, I don't know if it made it out the door or not, but I'm praying it did.
3. Speaker did a great job. And the students seemed to really be listening.
4. My youth ministry team leaders really stepped up to the plate Friday night. One of them told me about a conversation he had with one of the students. (It was funny b/c I sent this student to this adult about the question). The conversation started b/c the student wanted to know how to "get a girl to like him" and ending up being about God having a plan for the kids life. Obviously there is a flow and process from pt. A to pt. B, but that is not necessary. It was cool to see the conversation and to focus on connecting with this student in the next few weeks for follow up.
5. Had over 8 feet of sub left over
6. I was reminded that even to the "cool" middle schoolers I am a dork. Most of them would not even acknowledge I talked to them. Now the rest of the students it was a different story. I was able to connect with quite a few new faces.
7. The adults really did a great job at "being present" with the students. I was encouraged to see them step up and show what great adult helpers can do.
8. The last kid was getting picked up like at 11:45 (we ended at 11). I think I'm going to start charging for babysitting :)
9. I'm glad we did it, but I am also glad its over. No major issues, so that is good. Now we just work on follow up and seeing the students at school and around town and trying to reconnect with them.

Lessons from The Office

First off, watching without seeing the previews is better. I think I enjoyed the episode much more since I had not seen most of it on the previews. I knew enough about this episode to have an idea of what was going to happen, but I must say the actual show was funnier than what I pictured.

So what can we learn:
1. Sometimes we go back to what we know (Pam)
2. People do not like/want to be alone (or lonely) (Pam/Kelly)
3. With the boss gone, nothing gets done in the office
4. Michael truly cares for people
5. Art (and almost any form of self expression) is best when it comes from passion and excitement within us.
6. In any business or ministry - its the people that are important!

(one more episode before a break)

Pumping Gas

On Saturday a few of the high schoolers (and a couple adults) were at a local gas station (one of our two :)) to pump gas for people. Things were working out well. It was supposed to be really cold here which is great for something like this. Well, apparently, it was too cold for people to get out and get gas. We were there for two hours and I would say we didn't have many more than 30 cars get gas.

But what was even funnier was that over 1/2 the people we asked (mostly men) to pump their gas for them just said no. Or (and this is even funnier to me) they said yes and then stood outside the car talking to you as you pumped their gas. :) Our whole purpose was to pump gas so people would not have to get out of their cars. Oh well.



It turned out to be a good afternoon, even though it didn't go exactly as planned. It was really cold and we tried to rotate people to be outside. But at one point two of the senior girls decided to go play in the snow. Note that one of them didn't have gloves.

Photo Friday #6

This is a picture from our back porch the other night, after our snowfall. It was horrible, about an inch of snow fell and covered the ground. :)

The Office - no previews

This week I decided to try something. I did not watch any preview clip from this week's episode. Since we don't watch much TV, see this post on reasons why, I didn't have to worry about seeing any previews on TV. So, my only issue was not to watch the numerous previews online.

I have become overwhelmed with all the previews they are now showing for The Office. It seems like you can get the first 10 minutes of the show online.

So, I have to say I am pretty excited about watching it without seeing the previews. I think it will be better this way. I'm trying to get back to "enjoying" the show each episode and not trying to learn as much as I can about the upcoming episodes. What did people do before the internet to tell us what was coming up on a TV show? :)

shopping carts and youth ministry

In January, on our way to see family, we stopped at a store (let's call it Meijer) for a break. Some of you won't know what Meijer is - its like Wal-mart, that's about the only comparison I can make. :)

Anyway, I saw something that made me sad. Really sad. (I wish I would have had my camera to capture the moment) They have a new level of shopping cart available now. Not only can your child ride in a fancy car or boat or whatever - now they can watch TV while you shop. Yeah, you heard me correctly. You child can sit and watch a cartoon while you shop, for a $1. You can now buy a cart that has a TV in the front and you push the cart around and your child watches Bob the Builder or Barney or the Wiggles or....

You have got to be kidding! Can our children not last 30 minutes to an hour in a store without watching TV. I guess that way they don't have to wait until they get back into the SUV with DVD in the backseat to finish the episode. I mean come on, can kids really not stay away from TV that long.

but then I got to thinking. How often do we try to do the same thing with your ministry? I mean, we talk about how the days of flash ministry are fading. But are they really fading for the "average" youth minister? Is there not something inside of us that wants to have flash.

I mean flash has its advantages. Flash is instant. Flash is noticeable. Flash gets noticed. Flash "shows" people we are doing something. Flash draws kids.

But flash has its disadvantages. Flash does not help a student through tough times. Flash is all about surface. Flash can take away from God. Flash is about feeling good about the "job" you are doing. Flash does not last. Flash will be outdone by someone down the street.

For me the whole shopping cart is about getting a kid to like the store for the TV, not for the store. In youth ministry, its easier to try to get a student to like the ministry for the "fun, flash, ______" and not because of the God we serve.

Are the other leaders or congregation forcing us to do flash? When people look at the ministry and they do not see an increase in numbers does that force us to do something to keep our job? Is the desire for "flash ministry" a product of misinformed laypeople? How can we pass on the need to be deep? Who needs to pass this on?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. This whole TV shopping cart just got me thinking...

5th Quarter

This Friday is our 5th Quarter. We are hosting the middle school students. Honestly I think that is because at some point in the past the other host decided they wanted to do the high school one (not sure if it was out of fear for ms or what?). So today and tomorrow will be fun days of prep. I am looking forward to it. I love being able to just hang out with middle schoolers for a few hours and then send them back home :)

I have been encouraged by our adult helpers. They seem to really get behind the need to have a quality/excellent event for middle schoolers. They do not see it as the "leftover" or "unwanted" group. They are excited about it and I am thrilled to see that excitement and not a feeling of "havetoness."

We're having a dj do the music - which I'm excited about. Some fun games are planned and some great food is on its way.

But my big concern is in the interaction b/w the adults and the students. I've been to other events where the adults just sorta sit back and interact with each other and do not interact with the students. Or if they do, the students have to initiate it. I'm going to try to stress the point that this is not for us, its for the students. I want the students to know we care about them, we are here for them, we want them to know about and have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

If you think about it, please pray for our evening. Thanks

Trivia Wednesday #4

Now for the moment you have been waiting for all week.

Answer #3 - Man o' War (its the exit off 75 I take to get to my brother's house.)

Question #4 - True or False: The honeybee kills more people each year world-wide than venomous snakes.

I made this one a little easier for all of you. I'll give you two guesses on this one. :) In honor of Valentine's Day today, here is a fun fact:

In the Middle Ages, the belief that birds chose their mates on St. Valentine's Day led to the idea that boys and girls would do the same. Up through the early 1900's, the Ozark hill people in the U.S. thought that birds and rabbits started mating on February 14, a day for them which was not only Valentine's Day but Groundhog Day as well.

HPV vaccine mandatory?

Have you seen this? I guess in Texas the governer is trying to made it mandatory for all girls to get this vaccine. Here is the CDC page on HPV. From what I can gather it is still fairly new and long term side effects are unknown. I just feel that it should not be mandatory. Having it is great. Now my other struggle is that some women who have HPV did not get it from consensual sex, but from rape. This takes the issue from a "free pass" to have sex to a prevention against something you cannot foresee.

where should the line be?

dangerous roads

I saw this on Blurred Brain. Though I don't know where or why Tim found it, I thought it was quite interesting.

Here is Tim's post on the top 5 dangerous roads in the world. Here is the original article.

All I have to say is why would you drive on these?

Getting through tough times

Today in the Sr. Bible study we con't to talk about trials. I asked them what attributes of God helps them through tough times. I thought I would share the answers.

1. His great strength
2. He knows us (better than we know ourselves)
3. He loves us
4. He's been through everything
5. He will never leave us

ps. We talked about Job. I read the first part when all the stuff happens to Job. Then I stopped and said before we look at how Job responds let's talk about what it would have been like. One of the ladies said "We know how he responds, we've known his we were 5." I just laughted to myself :)

depending on God

Well, it seems to be happening again. A while back I posted about how God kept showing me my need to seek Jesus.

It seems that this week I have been reminded of my need to depend on God on a daily basis. The last couple weeks in the High School SS we have been talking about the Israelites in the time of the Exodus. This week we looked at the manna and quail God gave them daily (for 40 years!) to take care of their needs. And how they could not keep any for the next day or it would have maggots and smell. That is except the 6th day, which is something else really cool God showed them - The Sabbath. Then today while I was reading 1 Kings 17 (Elijah and the widow) I was struck by this concept again. In this passage, Elijah is told to go to the Kerith Ravine and he will be fed by Ravens (daily). Then when the river dries up he is told to go to Zarephath of Sidon and a widow will take care of him.

What struck me at this point is that the widow is planning on making one last meal for herself and her son and then just waiting to die (due to the drought in the area). Elijah tells her to go home and make a small cake of bread for him and then some for her family. And then her flour and oil will not empty until God gives rain to the land again. Not only was she supposed to rely on God to keep the flour and oil full, she was supposed to give what little she had to someone else before she could use it for herself. God keeps his promise and she has food every day.

Then the third appearing of this theme came while I was reading Deep Ministry in a Shallow Wolrd by Chap Clark and Kara Powell. This one is in regards to taking vacations. But is says "Saving vacation time is like the Israelites who tried to store up manna." (p 230) What am I trying to store up that God wants me to use?

What do I need to depend on God for? The obvious answer, for me, always go back to money. But I think there is more that I need to depend on God for daily.

I hope to post more about this as I wrestle with it. What are your thoughts? How can ministers depend daily on God for something in the ministry? What has God given us to use today that will "spoil" if we try to keep it for tomorrow?

Trivia Wednesday #3 (hint)

It seems as though my racehorsing question was too difficult. So here is a hint. The answer is a 3 word name with an "'O" in the middle. _______ 'O _______

Does that help?

Lessons from The Office

Last night's Office reminded me a lot of the Diwali episode, esp. with the ending being a "flashback" in time to earlier in the evening.

Lessons learned:
1. in order to have a good TV show, you cannot have the man/woman ever get together until the end of the series
2. some people should never be given a microphone
3. its ok to kick people out
4. bringing up past hurts is not always good (please stop talking Kelly)
5. sometimes no advice is better advice (again, thanks Kelly)
6. it is not always easy to not be in the "spotlight" all the time

fiber optics

I can't believe I didn't post about this earlier this week. On my way in to work today I noticed the phone lines. Yeah, that's not too odd. But what I remembered was that last week they had been working on the lines, putting some new line in - which I had no idea what it was. Well, at the sr. Bible study on Tuesday someone mentioned that they were putting up fiber optic cable. That's not strange, because fiber optics is beginning to be more common. But what is strange is that I live in a small town (2,000 people) and if you're outside of the "city limits" then you cannot even get high speed internet.

So if we are really getting fiber optic cables that is crazy. It's good, but crazy.

Maybe this will mean we (at the church) can get some higher speed internet than dialup. Maybe? Please!

Photo Friday #5

I did put the sign up in my office, so I thought that would make a good picture of the week. Here is my "Office" sign location, right next to my desk. Yeah, I know its supposed to be on my door, but then I would never see it :)

feedblitz

Just an FYI to anyone interested. I added a feedblitz feature to the blog "recently." You can add your email address and it will send you an email when there is a new post, well actually it does it once a day. You can find the feedblitz info on the right side of the blog.

Thanks and enjoy :)

Archaeologists find prehistoric Romeo and Juliet locked in eternal embrace

I just saw this article. It's just such a huge coincidence that they found it so close to Valentine's Day. Here is a portion of the article:

Archaeologists have unearthed two skeletons from the Neolithic period locked in a tender embrace and buried outside Mantua, just 25 miles south of Verona, the romantic city where Shakespeare set the star-crossed tale of Romeo and Juliet.

Quite an interesting article, I'm sure we'll be hearing more about it in the weeks to come.

Go here for the whole story.

I don't know about you, but I would love to get a Valentine's card with that picture on the front and something inside about "our love will last longer than that."

Trivia Wednesday #3

Answer #2: (in no particular order)Scoop - digger, Lofty - crane, Dizzy - cement mixer, Muck - digger/dumper, Roley - steam roller, Wendy - business partner, Spud - Farmer Pickles’ scarecrow, Mr. Bentley - building inspector, Scruffty - Farmer Pickles’ dog, Pilchard - cat (possibly belonging to Wendy), Travis - tractor, Bird - bird (Roley’s best friend), Scrambler - ATV, Benny - robo digger, Jay Jay - building yard owner, Molly - works with Jay Jay

Questions #3 - What was the name of the popular American racehorse who only lost one race, to a horse called Upset? (its also a name of a road in Lexington, KY)

Senior Bible Study

Today was the first of a month long weekly Bible studies with the seniors. Not high school or college seniors, no the true seniors. You know, those people who have a lot of knowledge and life experience and yet seem to mostly go untapped. Yeah, I got the privilage of leading a Bible study for them.

I actually got called last Friday to lead every Tuesday this month. At first, I have to admit I was a little apprehensive and unsure. I guess its a little intimidating for me to try to lead a Bible study with people who have been in the Bible for many more years than I've been alive. But with the helpful words of my wife, I came to my senses and said I would lead it.

Last month they studied eternity, so that was out. I ended up deciding to do the book of James. And after today, I don't think we'll get through it all without either: having absolutely no conversation or putting it all down in "handouts". And who many seniors do you know that want more papers :)

Today, we got through the first 13 verses or so. It was good. I was nervous and felt underprepared, but I think it turned out ok. It was encouraging to hear their comments and discussion. A lot of the seniors have been through way more trials than I have and so it was good to hear from them about their experiences and how they have handled tough times. To hear how God has brought them through some really tough times, like loss of spouses and children. We also talked about how sometimes our trials are not huge, sometimes they are more minor. Even those trials are things we need to bring before God and learn from.

It was encouraging. One of the ladies told me that she had been meaning to tell me she really enjoyed the last time I preached (Dec. 31). I challenged the congregation to think of New Year's Day as just another Monday. That each day we should be making resolutions, not just once a year. I challenged them to wake up each morning and thank God for another day and then ask themselves (and God) how they could make a difference in their world today. I told them to try it for a week and see if it made a difference. She told me she's been doing that and it has made a big difference. That was nice to hear and encouraging to know that my preaching has been used to help someone grow closer to God.

29 posts

Just saw this and thought it was interesting, at least to me. I had 29 posts in Jan 2007. That is over 1/2 of what I posted all of 2005. Granted I started part way through the year and did take time off b/c I was without a ministry and whatnot.

Shocking

Ok, so yesterday while trying to get to the church's paper cutter, I shocked myself on the doorknob. I've been shocking myself a lot lately. So I made some comment like it was the 18th time that I'd shocked myself so far that day. Someone who heard me just kinda laughed like I was exagerating. Well, today I decided to try to count how many times I actually shock myself.

So far: 19

update: final count - 38

Am I just weird?

The Office - the sign

Yesterday something fun happened. If you are just tuning in to this blog, you may not know that I am a fan of "The Office." (US version) Since the show came out I've been looking for one of those signs they use for the title of the show. I've looked in office catalogs, many office stores and have never found one. Until yesterday, we were at a local "multipurpose" store. It was our first time in the store, just to look around and see what they had. They have dog supplies, horse supplies, some farm equipment, typical hardware stuff, some books, toys, clothes, appliances and some other odds and ends. Well, we walked past the section with the for sale signs, house numbers, etc. And I started to say "how funny would it be that I'd find my sign here." Right when I finished the sentence, there it was. :)





Now I just have to find a good spot in my office to put it. Is it sad that I've looked for a sign like this for this long?

Photo Friday #4

This photo is from our kickoff last year. One of the hosts made this and I thought it was pretty cool.

Happy Groundhog Day

What else is there to say?

(go pick up the movie and watch it today, and remember you have to make the most of each day. If you don't then you'll just keep repeating it until you get it right)

elder's meeting tonight

Tonight is our elder's meeting. Should not be too bad, might be long. Last night was the building expansion meeting with the architects to go over some of the details needed before they can draw up the plans for the proposed building expansion. So I'm looking forward to being updated on that info and hearing how things are going.

Hopefully I won't have much to blog about tomorrow about the meeting.

Tomorrow I'm also going on a Men's retreat at the local camp. This will mark the first such event I've been to in a long time (not counting Promise Keepers).